“May the grace that brought you safe this far
Be the grace that takes you home”
I use these words from the hymn Amazing Grace at most weddings I officiate at. They are good words for a couple heading out into life. Some miracle of God has brought them together. They will need miracles of God to fulfil their vows. Grace…
They are even greater words for a life of faith. Christianity has this ludicrous idea at its centre. The greatest idea ever told. Our salvation, wholeness, possibility of living the full potential of a human being doesn’t rest with our efforts. They are a gift from God. That is grace.
It is all about God. Christians might quote Ephesians 2:8 & 9 as a proof text - “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Most Christians receive such a belief quite easily. It is after accepting the gift of grace that the difficulties begin. It is a gift that cannot be earned BUT once received it seems that we need to work like the clappers to keep it.
That is where John Newton’s hymn kicks in. The same grace that gets us here, takes us home. If it is all about God to begin with, it has to be about God after the rebirth.
There is a song that poetically catches this. If there was a universal taste in music and everyone loved the singer songwriting genre, then I would make everybody that I have any spiritual relationship with listen to Pierce Pettis’s God Believes In You:
When you rise up just to fall again
God believes in you
Deserted by your closest friends
God believes in you
Oh, everything matters
If anything matters at all
Everything matters
No matter how big, no matter how small
Oh, God believes in you
God believes in you
When you're so ashamed that you could die
God believes in you
And you can't do right even though you try
God believes in you
Of all the songs I played on my radio show, or in the context of quiet reflective services, this is the song that has had the most response.
It is an astounding song of pastoral tenderness and theological insight. It is a song of belief when belief is all but lost. It is a reminder not only that spirituality is about what God does through his grace rather than what we do through our smart ideas, theological cleverness or self righteous piety.
It is all about the grace that gets us in, keeping us in. Relationship with God is about how God relates to us, more than it is about how we relate to God. That is a crucial truth.
I spend time with so many people who are spiritually depressed and down on their souls because they are trying yet again to reach God, fix what they broke, undo their backsliding! But it is not about us reaching God by our efforts but about God reaching us just because God is love.
Pierce’s song is a great reminder but it a song that goes slightly further. It has another audacious suggestion. God believes in our ability to achieve things in God’s Kingdom even when we feel far from able. He brings us onto his team, as salt, light, ambassadors, Kingdom bringers.
To feed a healthy soul you could do worse than play God Believes In You over and over. It’ll help that grace that brought you safe this far… be the grace that…
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